Už ar prieš reformas: Ketverių metų seimo nutarimų įgyvendinimas Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės pavietuose 1789–1792 metais
For or Against Reforms: The Implementation of the Four-Year Sejm‘s Decisions in the Pavietai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1789–1792)

Summary/Abstract: The articles aims to discuss the decisions of the Four-Year Sejm, which contributed to the reforms of the country’s administrative and legal systems, and their implementation in the pavietai (an administrative district in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the assumption that the acceptance of reforms in local territories is best reflected by the speed and scale of their implementation, the closest attention was given to the establishment of new pavietai as well as landowners’ law courts. To demonstrate the speed of the reforms, the author relied on the data concerning Duma councils and population census, the establishment of delineation commissions and the formation of the nobility’s municipal institutions in newly established pavietai. The analysis of numerous archival sources allows to draw conclusions that the implementation of the decisions of the Four-Year Sejm in the pavietai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was welcomed and supported by the nobility; consequently, it was carried out smoothly. No legal act was boycotted, or its implementation delayed, by the local nobility. Actually, the issues faced by the local pavietai nobility were devoid of political overtones. Mainly, they concerned certain administrative and technical matters, i. e. lack of relevant infrastructure or competent personnel. For example, the newly established pavietai faced the shortage of noblemen with basic qualifications to occupy key positions; noblemen who had appropriate qualifications were engaged in other activities of pavietai. The only law which met a considerable opposition on the part of landless nobility dealt with the introduction of Landowners’ Book; consequently, its introduction was delayed. All in all, the major obstacle for the implementation of the reforms of the Four-Year Sejm and the reformation of municipal, legal etc systems was lack of time to carry out them completely; Russian military intervention stopped the process of reforms.

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